What are the key moments you should include in your wedding video? Four videographers weigh in

Being front and centre at my best friend's wedding, watching his wedding video should not have made me emotional. Yet it somehow did. Watching something that I was part of, right from the beginning, left me teary-eyed. But why? Was it the emotions and reaction shots of the bride, groom, and their parents that were intensified when caught on camera? Was it because I imagined how gorgeous my bride would look? Why were the answers to all of these questions a resounding yes? And why was a four-minute wedding video the reason for it? 

Most wedding videos get a lot of things right, thanks to the moments captured by the videographers, and more importantly, the moments they (and the couple) choose to leave out. Wedding videos often garner a range of emotions—they make you feel happy for the couple, they make you dream about your own wedding, and if you're a married couple, they can make you want to watch your wedding video for the nth time. And if you've felt any or all of these emotions, you know the video ticked the right boxes. 

So the big question is, ‘What makes a good wedding video?’ Brides Today spoke to the founders of two wedding video production companies to get the answers 

Varied lengths for different reasons

While each wedding video production company works differently, the one commonality is releasing a teaser, trailer, and then the entire film. The short one-minute video that you see on Instagram is the teaser, and as the name suggests, it’s got the best of what’s required—the shots, emotions, and introduction of the couple, all done within a minute. The trailer, on the other hand, lasts around four minutes. Here, you get a highlight of the wedding, making the viewer revisit those emotions and feel them all over again. Even if you weren’t at this wedding, you get the idea of how things went down. And finally, the main wedding film, which is 20-30 minutes long. This is made keeping in mind the family who wants to relive every single detail of the wedding. 

Everyone wants a byte of the wedding video

What makes a wedding video stand out are the people who are part of it. You might've already seen the ceremony before, but watching the emotions and reactions of the family and the couple will surely bring a smile to your face. And that is why bytes are part of a majority of wedding videos. It's a coming together of the past, present, and future where you learn about the couple's love story, their friends and families sharing their thoughts on the couple, etc. 

Moreover, these bytes also break the monotony. The presence of dialogue is great and a welcome change to the entire video having a song or more playing in the background. Weddings are a rollercoaster of emotions with the high-energy sangeet on one side and the intimate mehndi on the other. Bytes serve as the perfect transition between these emotions. 

Striking the balance between candid and posing

You might find it weird or funny to see the couple stand and pose for shots that look anything but candid. However, you must realise that this is being done for a reason. The bride and groom have been preparing for this day for a very long time and would certainly want their outfit to stand out. While we have dialogue from bytes, the wedding video has to show the bride as a dreamy girl which is why candid shots must be included. Portrait shots also make for a fantastic introduction shot or fillers after shots with a lot of dialogue. 

What we see less of 

The lack of the venue’s presence in wedding videos can be telling, but it’s something that is decided according to the destination. For example, at a beach wedding in Goa or one in a palace in Rajasthan, it goes without saying that certain clips of the property will be present to elevate the wedding video. If the location is grand, there’s a good chance that you’ll see a drone shot of the property from above, which sets the tone for the extravagance that follows. A good wedding video production company would always show elements of the property, the city, and the venue and combine that with shots of the couple.

Wedding videos have reached the point where the food and its arrangement aren’t included. The current generation is all about capturing the candid and the emotions. On the other hand, there exist food-obsessed couples who don’t just want the food at the wedding to taste good but to look great as well. In those cases, it’s important to get a videographer who understands food.

Getting ready never looked better on camera

A wedding video, much like any other video, narrates a story. And that requires a good right build-up to the main narrative. This is exactly why almost every wedding video these days includes shots of the bride and groom getting ready for the most special day in their life. If you just start with the bride’s entry, it’ll fail to evoke a curiosity within the viewer to see how she’s looking at the end. Videographers want to slowly get to the point where she walks into the scene and sees everyone have all eyes on her. On the other hand, you can get the groom with his gang of boys chilling as they get ready for the baaraat. It’s also a pleasant surprise for the couple when they see how they looked when getting ready. 

Emotions and reactions 

These two words are the answer to ‘What makes a good wedding video?’. The groom's reaction to watching his bride walk down the aisle is a priceless moment that absolutely needs to be in the video. Ceremonies are important, but a wedding is so much more than that. A ceremony gives the wedding video a sense of direction and lets the cameraperson know that there is a possibility of a moment happening right there. A sangeet ceremony may happen, but the entries and performances are different. And that’s where those shootings have to come in and stand out.

Inputs by Sanyogita Sao and Apoorv Mohan Shrivastava from Plush Affairs and Jayant Chhabra and Shruti Khanna, the founders of Cupcake Productions 

Image credits: Plush Affairs and Cupcake Productions

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